OPENING VOLUNTARY My Song Is Love Unknown
arr. Cathy Moklebust
Samuel Crossman's (1624-1683) text is paired with the tune Love Unknown in Evangelical Lutheran Worship; but it has long been associated with the tune Rhosymedre. That is how it appeared in Lutheran Book of Worship.
Well-suited for Lent, the poetry talks of a Savior who, out of love, becomes incarnate knowing that he will die. Scenes from Palm Sunday and Jesus' passion inhabit the hymn's stanzas.
Cathy Moklebust infused her arrangement with all the drama the words imply. A comforting and lyrical melody leads us into the first statement of the tune. As we approach the passion rendering, the music becomes stark before it turns to a hair-raising cacophony that reminds us of the crowd yelling "Crucify him!" A quiet period follows, as if the world has stopped to mourn. Then the original melody, now in a minor key, reappears and slowly transforms, leading us into a final triumphant statement of the hymn. The end brings back the original melody, it's resolute tone signifying a faith that is sure.
GATHERING HYMN Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters (Beach Spring)
ELW 445
The Prayer of the Day initiates a theme of baptism - and being Lutherans our hymnals are filled with hymns that celebrate the sacrament. This hymn's many references ("Wash, O God". . ."cleansing waters". . ."one with Christ in living, dying". . ."water-washed" - the images abound!) help us to remember our baptism and to trust in God's power to transform our lives.
The Prayer of the Day initiates a theme of baptism - and being Lutherans our hymnals are filled with hymns that celebrate the sacrament. This hymn's many references ("Wash, O God". . ."cleansing waters". . ."one with Christ in living, dying". . ."water-washed" - the images abound!) help us to remember our baptism and to trust in God's power to transform our lives.
HYMN OF THE DAY All Who Believe and Are Baptized (Es ist das Heil)
ELW 442
Here's a challenge: Try to find a hymn that more clearly expresses the Lutheran understanding of baptism than this one. I bet you can't!
Thomas Kingo (1634-1703), a Lutheran pastor and eventual bishop, began writing poetry shortly after his ordination. This text was included in his self-published book of hymns that he proposed for a new Lutheran hymnal in 1689. A new hymnal was adopted about 10 years later that included this text. Originally published in Danish, then translated into English as "He That Believes and Is Baptized, " it has served us well ever since. LBW brought us the inclusive version we sing today, "All Who Believe and Are Baptized."
The Lutheran church I grew up in didn't sing a lot of the standard Lutheran chorales, but this is one we knew. I still love singing it today.
Read more about the Lutheran church where I was baptized and confirmed here:
http://smljax.blogspot.com/search?q=what+kind+of+lutheran
ELW 442
Here's a challenge: Try to find a hymn that more clearly expresses the Lutheran understanding of baptism than this one. I bet you can't!
Thomas Kingo (1634-1703), a Lutheran pastor and eventual bishop, began writing poetry shortly after his ordination. This text was included in his self-published book of hymns that he proposed for a new Lutheran hymnal in 1689. A new hymnal was adopted about 10 years later that included this text. Originally published in Danish, then translated into English as "He That Believes and Is Baptized, " it has served us well ever since. LBW brought us the inclusive version we sing today, "All Who Believe and Are Baptized."
The Lutheran church I grew up in didn't sing a lot of the standard Lutheran chorales, but this is one we knew. I still love singing it today.
Read more about the Lutheran church where I was baptized and confirmed here:
http://smljax.blogspot.com/search?q=what+kind+of+lutheran
MUSICAL OFFERING There's a Wideness in God's Mercy
Brenda Portman
Periodically I receive preview packs of music from publishers - including Augsburg Fortress, the publisher of "There's a Wideness." I liked it instantly and considered ordering it for our Festival Choir. I encountered it two more times that summer - first in a reading session at Lutheridge's Music Week, then again at an ALCM conference at Valparaiso University. I ordered it, then did something I rarely do. I sent an email to the composer, congratulating her on writing this beautiful new music set to one of my favorite hymn texts.
Then I got a surprise - a reply with a touching backstory that I never could have learned from the notes on the page. Ms. Portman told me how she wrote the piece in memory of a man, Bill, whose wife sings in the choir at her church. She included elements in the music that directly relate to him. Micah 6:8 was his favorite verse. It's not part of Faber's text, but she included it between stanzas.
Here's more of what she told me:
Then I got a surprise - a reply with a touching backstory that I never could have learned from the notes on the page. Ms. Portman told me how she wrote the piece in memory of a man, Bill, whose wife sings in the choir at her church. She included elements in the music that directly relate to him. Micah 6:8 was his favorite verse. It's not part of Faber's text, but she included it between stanzas.
Here's more of what she told me:
. . .as I learned from reading his memoir of his time in Vietnam, he was on track before the war to become a concert pianist, and because of his severe shoulder injuries in Vietnam, that dream never took shape - but I tried to make the piano interludes a little more special in honor of his gift at the piano. And then, his immediate group of soldiers was called Delta Company, so I put the piece in the Key of D throughout. . . his brothers in Delta Company were so much a part of his life for many decades, always there for him, even if those of us who knew him at church weren't aware of that.
These special details add even more to the experience of singing There's a Wideness.
COMMUNION HYMN We Are Baptized in Christ Jesus (Ouimette)
ELW 451
ELW 451
COMMUNION HYMN Born, Reborn (Born, Reborn) ACS 956
Justin Rimbo was commissioned to write a hymn either of praise or of baptismal remembrance for the 2013 Assembly of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod. He wrote a song that is both. The refrain proclaims and celebrates what God has done for the church in baptism while the stanzas ask for God's work in baptism to be enacted in the assembly. This mix of completed and anticipated action in baptism reflects Luther's understanding of it as daily dying to sin and being raised in Christ.
(From Sunday and Seasons © 2023 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.)
SENDING HYMN O Living Breath of God (Vårindar Friska) ELW 407
There is some debate on the origins of the tune - it may be Norwegian OR Swedish.
There is no doubt about the text. It was written by Osvaldo Catena (1920-1986), a Roman Catholic priest and musician whose ministry focused on people living in the slums of Argentina.
Today, extra accompaniment comes from a djembe (an African drum), maracas, and claves. The djembe and claves are recent additions to our instruments at St. Mark's. They were purchased with memorials for Andy Chopra, a gifted musician who grew up in this community.
There is no doubt about the text. It was written by Osvaldo Catena (1920-1986), a Roman Catholic priest and musician whose ministry focused on people living in the slums of Argentina.
 |
| Andy Chopra |
Today, extra accompaniment comes from a djembe (an African drum), maracas, and claves. The djembe and claves are recent additions to our instruments at St. Mark's. They were purchased with memorials for Andy Chopra, a gifted musician who grew up in this community.
CLOSING VOLUNTARY Lift High the Cross (Crucifer)
setting, John Leavitt
setting, John Leavitt
Sources:
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns
Wikipedia
Crucifixion Image: Crivelli, Carlo, 15th cent.. Crucifixion, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46786 [retrieved March 3, 2023]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlo_Crivelli_003.jpg.
Thomas Kingo portrait: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=139188
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns
Wikipedia
Crucifixion Image: Crivelli, Carlo, 15th cent.. Crucifixion, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46786 [retrieved March 3, 2023]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlo_Crivelli_003.jpg.
Thomas Kingo portrait: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=139188
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